Redman Hirahara Farmstead

Redman Hirahara Farmstead is a complex including a historic house designed by William Weeks (1897) and a vernacular barn in the Pajaro Valley, south of Watsonville, California.

A Japanese American owned farm which was maintained by local citizens and watched over by family friend, attorney John McCarthy, during the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II and was returned to the Hirahara family after the war, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.The barn included a living unit prior to the war and was expanded postwar to house other returning Japanese families.

Upon receiving confirmation from Mitoshi and Fumio, the rest of the Hirahara family returned from Arkansas on June 4, 1945, by train and reoccupied the property.

[5] Additions to the carriage barn on the Hirahara property were made in order to provide housing for other Japanese-Americans who did not have homes to which they could return.

[1] Following the World War II, Mitoshi Hirahara employed many Japanese-Americans to support the farm until they could get back on their feet.

It was a classic Queen Anne — it featured a rounded corner tower with a turret, gables with meticulously carved panels, Palladian windows and dentil molding.

The intricate detailing that Weeks designed for the exterior of the home could also be found inside — expensive and decorative wood, including eastern oak and bird's eye maple, were used for doors, mantels, and window casings.